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Day 7 of our adventure, and the icing on the cake: Roma! With only a few hours to visit a city requiring at least one week to unveil all of its treasures, we focused on the vestiges of the Roman civilisation/ antiquity.
Despite the morning strike at the Coliseum, we were able to wait in line for one hour in the afternoon to finally visit a must-see monument.
In the meantime, the foras, the senate, the Rotonda, Trevi fountain, etc. kept us busy!
We made it back to the boat just in time with the one-hour train ride to the Civitavecchia port.
Same conclusion: now I know what I need to come back for!

Had to share newly released pictures by Simon Be about the 6th day of our Mediterranean cruise spent visiting Sicily.
We did not get to see much of the Etna but at least we cruised by the smoking Stromboli, pretty amazing!

When registering for the translation conference in Orford (near Sherbrooke, QC), I had decided to fly into Montreal a day early to visit as much of the city as I could in 24 hours. A day is such little time to visit a city with so much history, art, beauty and gastronomy. However, I do not regret my little « escapade » from a tumultuous work routine and an intense (but highly instructive) professional conference.

I landed at the Montreal Trudeau Airport on Saturday, August 18 at noon (on schedule) and after stowing my heavier suitcase at the convenient staffed airport « locker room » (consigne), I made my way downtown with the 747 shuttle bus. From the Berri/ UQAM central station, it was an easy 2 metro stops up the orange line to Avenue Mont-Royal. With my 24-hour pass, I also had access to the bus network, and it was only a 5-minute ride to my airbnb room in an apartment located on Rue Fabre.

It was the most relaxed; no big crowds – or mobs, it was easy to find a good driver and we had a full day.

Our driver took us all over the island in his van, from the glass & pottery factories to the blue gorge. He was very personable, a true Maltese and spoiled us a V.I.P. InsiderTour!

Malta itself is beautiful and so interesting, from the contrast of white sandstone and vibrant colors, to Valetta and the fisherman’s village.

We got to eat the most awesome lunch ever at a restaurant by the sea where our driver’s daughter works (it is always great when you can support a local business…): we entered through the kitchen, picked 3 types of fish fresh from that morning, and enjoyed a « festin » (feast) with all the trimmings… local wine included!

Maltese is the most diverse and interesting language I have ever heard, and is made up of Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English… but is written with the Latin alphabet. The Maltese cross represents the 8 founding nations of the island.

I highly recommend Malta and I would go back there for a week-long stay in a second… just beau-ti-ful!!

Day 3 was spent navigating from Barcelona to Tunis. There are certainly a lot of things to do on the ship, between working out at the gym, swimming and tanning by the pool… With 4000 people on board though, the best place to really rest is in the cabin, at the balcony, watching the sea…
We are not your typical resort/ cruise enthusiast, too many people is just not relaxing. But lunch (as long as you avoid the buffet!) and dinner were always good with great service, and we would take advantage of as many hours as possible at each port-of-call. Too bad we were welcomed in Tunis with the taxi drivers mob… We just wanted to have fun and visit… (to be continued)

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First stop: Barcelona. The shortest visit: only 5 hours to see as much as possible, so we focused on Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell, and took the metro 🙂
However, as SimonBe explains, we had not anticipated that the parc doors which were the only access to the roadway and the cruiseship port, would be padlocked! (After all, the señora at the Punta de información directed us there…)
We unfortunately had to rely on my rusty Spanish to find a cab at the top of the Miramar hill, where thankfully, a beautiful hotel is located with a « rotunda » and many taxis coming through. Just had to watch 5 cabs pass us by (pre-booked) with 45 minutes, then 30 minutes spare time before the boarding call…
But then, we made it, it was a fun adventure, and a wonderful dinner and shower were awaiting us on the ship! Viva Cataluña (and hold on to your wallets)!

I had mentioned my anxiety about going on a cruise following the Costa Concordia episode and my rather tumultous Canadian cruise a few years back…
We made it back and had a wonderful time, despite the frustration of very short visits at each port-of-call.
Some pictures are well overdue, and I have the pleasure of sharing my awesome brother-in-law’s professional work… one post at a time. Enjoy!

On s’en sort beaucoup mieux quand on s’occupe de ses préparatifs de voyage longtemps à l’avance. // It easier to manage when you take care of the preparations for your trip well in advance.

Les préparatifs de mariage sont très fastidieux à cause de l’élément « émotions humaines » et à cause du nombre de personnes qui veulent s’en mêler… // Wedding preparations are very tedious because of the “human emotions” element and because of the number of people who want to get involved.

Quels sont les préparatifs inclus dans votre liste pour préparer un déplacement important ?What type of preparations do you include on your checklist before an important trip?

Or if you are like me, you may favor « memo/ reminders » over lists… And in French, we call these « pense-bêtes » or « aide-mémoires« . Happy Saturday!